Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said she feared for her life as pro-Trump supporters stormed the Capitol on Wednesday in a deadly breach.
Ocasio-Cortez told WABC that she and other lawmakers were prepared for the possibility of dying in the siege.
“It was extremely worrying. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration by any means to say that many of us thought and were prepared for the possibility of us losing our lives yesterday. I certainly was thinking that was a possibility, and I know many members thought that was a possibility as well, the security breaches are extremely serious and deserve investigations on their own,” she told the station. “I want to be clear that this doesn't start or end at Capitol Police, but we need to know what happened with the National Guard.”
In the interview, Ocasio-Cortez blamed President Donald Trump for the “clear incitement of that crowd” and said she was shocked White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany didn’t take responsibility during a briefing Thursday.
In brief statements, McEnany said the Capitol siege was “appalling, reprehensible and antithetical to the American way” and that “We condemn it—the president and this administration—in the strongest possible terms.”
Ocasio-Cortez responded, saying of Trump: “He asked them to rush the Capitol and it incited so much of this violence that we saw yesterday that resulted in four deaths and many more injured.”
On Thursday night, authorities announced the death of a fifth person, a Capitol Police officer.
Ocasio-Cortez and other lawmakers are calling for the 25th Amendment to be invoked—and Trump’s impeachment if it isn’t.
“This is an extremely serious moment and I do believe that we must exercise every avenue possible because what the president has shown is that his mental status and his actions are wildly eroding at a rapid pace and he is becoming increasingly volatile,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
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